Some Thoughts On The Forum Main Page Layout Re-Marketplace

janice&fred

The long-time trend is newly signed up members asking about an Omega they spotted somewhere on the net for sale and warned off as the majority of those watches are sub-par, to outright rip offs/frankens. Often times myself and other members post a suggestion for the new member to browse our own for-sale marketplace to have a better chance of buying something legit and priced reasonable.

Now of course there are decent watches for sale anywhere on the net if one is savvy, but why are these new members unaware of our own marketplace until they are told? Then it is like a revelation. This happens so often that there must be some subtle way to inform newly signed up members that there is a marketplace section. I know this site is not primarily a sales forum, but perhaps if there was some sort of heading on the main page that indicated a for sale section, it might be of service to new collectors who have come across our forum. Nothing tacky, just something to clue in new members who might be too excited to dive into the discussion sections with questions that they haven't scrolled completely down the forums sections list.

Many of us members sporadically post stuff for sale, and not many of us are in the reselling business so it's not imperative for the watches to go quickly. I myself just started popping a few on here for sale a couple months ago after over a year of not posting anything for sale online. Mostly we members list watches as they start to clutter up and are not being used, or to turn the cash into another watch. I think it would be beneficial for both seasoned members and new members alike if the marketplace section was listed in a way that the majority of new members spot it without needing to be enlightened. These newbies will surely benefit from safer dealings.


Thoughts? 😀

pdxleaf

Totally agree it's a real missed opportunity, because many of the pieces listed here are not only great quality, but come with an extra layer of trust from being part of the community.


I’ve been exploring a related idea in another thread - about how trust gets established, especially for newer members or less visible sellers:
👉 What makes a seller trustworthy in your eyes?


The thought is that maybe some sellers (or buyers) would want to link to a free external tool from their OF profile - no marketplace or transactions involved, just another way to make their presence and reputation visible across platforms.


Curious if something like that could be complementary to the built-in sales section - and especially whether long-time members like you think it could help newcomers find safer, more confident starting points.
No.

OF mods don't need help. People can't sell unless they contribute to the community, building trust along the way.

Frankly, it feels a bit arrogant for a new contributor to offer to improve the Forum's longstanding community. Maybe that's just me.

UncleBuck

Makes me think of peeking my head out of the foxhole.
Believe me, there are snipers about!